Military PCS moving tips.

Aug 18, 2022After Moving, Moving, Packing/unpacking, Tips and More

Moving to a new area can be incredibly overwhelming with all the things that you have to get done. This article is going to share with you the top five military moving tips that you need to do once you get to a new duty station, to help alleviate some of that stress in a new duty station. There are a lot of words that you have to learn. Things like, the class six, BDUs, PCS, duty station, and there are so many more. What in the world does PCS mean? It stands for Permanent Change of Station. You may hear a military PCS, and it all has to do with the fact that you are going to be moving. 

Tip number one, make sure that the cable and utilities are turned on and in your name. This is the first thing before you worry about your kids, before your boxes are there, before anything else happens. You need to make sure that the utilities are turned on in that new house. Also get the cable done the very first thing when you hit ground in that new duty station. 

Tip number two. Go find a gym with childcare. Typically there are always gyms on post. Sometimes they’re really great and sometimes they’re just okay. And in the past, they’ve had childcare in them or next door to them, but everytime childcare is less and less of an option in military post gyms. YMCAs are a second-best option. They’re typically all over the country, especially around military posts, they usually have amazing childcare and when you don’t have your household goods yet and they are climbing the walls, you need to give yourself a little bit of a break even if it’s letting them play in the childcare while you run on a treadmill. Everyone will be a little bit happier, a little bit nicer when you give yourselves a break at the gym. 

Tip number three. Register the kids for school. This is probably the least favorite thing to do with moving, because there’s always a list of things that you need and it’s not complete, and then you probably end up having to do it three times and scan it in on top of everything else. So it is highly recommended not to wait until the week before school starts, get the information as soon as you get to ground, call, don’t just trust the website, for getting your kids ready for school, because sometimes the website’s wrong. There is a school liaison officer at every single duty station. They’re incredibly helpful. They’re your advocate, especially if you have special needs kids or gifted children who need a little bit of extra help getting them ready and registered for school. 

Tip number four, find out if your neighborhood has a Facebook page. Look for your little neighborhood’s tiny Facebook page. Whether you’re on a military post or you’re living outside of the gate and living amongst the civilians, typically every neighborhood will have some type of Facebook page and this is amazingly helpful to find out the trash schedule, the next neighborhood yard sale, babysitters etc. So find that Facebook page, get connected with it, so that’s the quickest way to find friends who have similar interests, find babysitters, find people to mow your lawn, and all the other things you need.

Tip number five. Establish a routine as soon as possible. It is so easy to just go willy-nilly when you don’t have boxes, or you’re living out of boxes and they’re not unpacked fully yet, or you’re sleeping on air mattresses and you’re up ’till 10 o’clock at night because you’re just not in that routine. So start by establishing a bedtime, especially if you have little kids. When you’re dealing with time changes and you’re moving, say, from California to Georgia, getting them on a routine as quickly as possible is going to make it easier and less chaotic for everybody involved. Set a grocery routine, so that you don’t forget to get your children breakfast, or your husband doesn’t come home hungry. Never good. 

Lastly, just establish what you’re gonna do throughout the day. It makes you feel normal and makes you feel less stressed, even when you’re living among piles and piles of boxes, so get that set, get it started. You’ll feel so much better.